What the hell is the CFL thinking? Remembrance Day?????

CFL Talk
1

Why are there games being played on Nov 11th?
This day is set aside to honour the veterans and the fallen. A day to remember that without the sacrifice of 10's of thousands of our Canadian soldiers through three wars and 14 "peace keeping" missions, we wouldn't have this fine football playing country in its present form.

I am not a vet. I have never served but I consider Nov 11th to be the most solemn of observed Canadian days of note, even beyond Canada Day. Why it is not a statuatory holiday is beyond me, BUT...

The CFL fights for viewership in this country versus the NFL. Perhaps if the CFL made more of an effort to BE Canadian, and stopped pandering to the networks...if it stopped trying to be an NFL North and promoted itself as truly CANADIAN, it would find that the people of Canada would respond...

2

It's a stat out in the west. It's still rediculous how stores and stuff are still open on the 11th.

3

I am sure I will get some flack on this but...... I see no problem with Stores being open or games being played
First of all My father was a WW2 vet who jumped over Normandy on D-Day.
Those men and woman who have given their lives for their country did not do so, so that we could have a holiday. They did it to preserve our way of life.
I do believe that honouring them is important but I also believe that we should live our lives in the way they meant us too.

4

I agree 100%. They fought for our freedom. Yes, we should honour them, and the best way to do that is to carry on with our normal routines and lives, just as we would on any other day of the year.

5

Playing the games on the 11th doesn't bother me one bit...I was annoyed with the time, but since that has been changed, I plan on kickin' back and celebrating the fact that I am, in fact, allowed to kick back and relax on that day...

6

Most Remembrance Day activity happens at the 11th hour, so I don't see the problem with having games in the afternoon.

As I understand it, there will be a moment of silence before each game.

Also, every player will have a poppy crest stitched to his uniform.

Has the CFL ever scheduled games on Remembrance Day in the past?

I used to argue that Remembrance Day should be a national holiday until I heard the arguement that people would just use the day like any other holiday, to go camping, fishing or just drinking beer. Not that there is anything wrong with those things as I am sure there are more than a few vets that fought to preserve the freedom to do these things. It's just that if you make it a statutory holiday, there is a risk that the day becomes abused, maybe even commercialised if it falls on a weekend.

7
[url=http://www2.sportsnet.ca/blogs/perry_lefko/2007/11/06/lest_we_forget/]http://www2.sportsnet.ca/blogs/perry_le ... we_forget/[/url]

The Canadian Football League and Remembrance Day are forever linked.

So how could the CFL schedule the start times of playoff games on Sunday before everyone in the country had a chance to observe a moment of silence for the people who sacrificed their lives, or were injured protecting the rights and freedoms we enjoy?

The CFL has already made the necessary adjustments in the start times and has been red-flagged with enough bad publicity that it's not necessary to offer further harangue.

Rather I'd like to point out -- and I found this out in reading Stephen Thiele's Heroes Of The Game: A History of the Grey Cup, and the CFL's Facts, Figures and Record Book -- just how much the CFL and the two world wars are connected.

The Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (the forerunner of the East Division of the Canadian Football League) and the Western Inter-provincial Football Union (the forerunner of the CFL's West Division) suspended play during the First World War.

According to the CFL's Facts, Figures and Record Book, many players in the Canadian Rugby Union (later becoming the CFL) volunteered for service alongside other civilians.

The Edmonton Eskimos suspended operations due to the war in 1939 and the Calgary Bronks (later to be re-named the Stampeders) followed suit the next year. The CRU suspended play after the 1941 season, but football was played in Canada the next three years with teams comprised of players from military bases. It was designed to "keep the spirit of Canadian football alive," Thiele noted in his book. "The games during this period thrilled football fans and reminded Canadians that there was more to life than war."

The Grey Cup kept going during this period adding to the lore of Canadian football and its championship game.

We salute the heroes who fought for our country and the heroes of the game of football in Canada.

We cannot, and should not, forget how much the wars in which our country fought and the CFL are forever linked.

8

Considering Cohon is supposed to be a marketing genius, it was really baffling to see this type of screw up with the start time. I guess it was 1:00 PM in the Eastern time zone, :wink:

However, the league really missed a golden opportunity to capitalize on the whole event. Football and holidays should be a financial boon to the league not an egg on your face situation.

9

BC gets a holiday on Monday. Not sure what that has to do with Remembrance Day, but we'll take it all the same. The holiday is always on the day of the 11th, except if it is on the weekend.

Who the heck scheduled Remembrance Day on Semi-Final Sunday anyways??

(just kidding, my Dad fought in WWII, also, and I will pay my respects on Sunday to those who served us so proudly...)

10

you know, the USA celebrates this day too! yet they're playing NFL football all day!

why isn't anyone getting on them?

11

Maybe because, even though it’s hard to tell at times, this isn’t an NFL forum?

12

[quote="Xvys"]BC gets a holiday on Monday. Not sure what that has to do with Remembrance Day, but we'll take it all the same. The holiday is always on the day of the 11th, except if it is on the weekend.

I am pretty sure BC works the same as Saskatchewan. As you stated the 11th is always the day you get off if it falls during the week. However, if it falls on a weekend, you get the Monday off instead.

13

Because its not Remembrance Day in the States. Its Veterans day. The day that Americans honour their war Dead is in May. Memorial day.

14

anyone watch the Yates cup pre-game show?

they explained how much the grey cup and yates cup are conected to WW1.

15

Traditionally, the key moment of Remembrance Day is the 11th hour of the 11th day in November. The Remembrance Day services usually end by noon, and life goes on as before at 1pm. The important point here is that one takes a moment to remember those who gave their lives so that we might live in peace.

16

Can’t say that I have gone back and checked, but I am sure that there have been games on Remembrance Day. Remembrance day is dead centre in the play-off season for the CFL’s schedule and I don’t ever recall playoff games being played on Saturday or skipping a week completely. The thing is that Remembrance Day falls on a Sunday, on average, once in seven years so the issue does not come up most years. Probably, this question comes up every time it does fall on a Sunday - but then maybe not … there weren’t internet forums to discuss the nuances to death even the last time Nov 11 was a Sunday. Having said that, the initial scheduling is a bit of a blemish on the League again - guess they didn’t think of it back in March when they set the schedules and didn’t think about it until someone else did and made nois. But they did take steps to adjust.

17

well obviouly they did this cuz they want everbody to remeber stegall duh

18

Come folks...think about this...the game start time in Winnipeg is what 1:00 what time is that in BC it is 11:00, i believe. The problem has gone away all they did was shift it some where else.

19

And how better to remember our war dead than to do it en masse. It seems insincere to force everyone to stay home and pretend to be sullen and brooding all day.

If people feel they need to do that to remember the fallen in their own way that's fine, but not everyone is exactly the same. That's one of the freedoms our vets fought for after all - freedom of expression.

It would be an insult to their memory to impose artificial emotions on people in the name of remembrance. Some will rejoice in their glory. Others will mourn their loss. Still others will do both and revel in the fact that we as a country had the strength of will to fight as one for the betterment of all.

20

Hear hear. I have no problem with the games being on Remembrance Day...as long as there is a tasteful recognition at the commencement. I rarely ever watch hockey, but I did happen to catch the beginning of the Toronto~New York game last night, and I thought the opening ceremonies were very effective and moving. Hope we see something like that later today.

My maternal grandfather fought in World War One; was gassed at the Battle of the Somme. My maternal uncles served in the Navy in WW2, on convoy duty in the North Atlantic.

My father was also in the Navy in WW2, but he was posted to the Pacific in case the Japanese attacked Canada, which of course they never did.

I have always believed that the reason that Japanese Admiral Yamamoto attacked Pearl Harbor was because he knew my Dad was off our west coast, and he was too scared to take him on, so he decided to attack the USA instead. Funny how no history book ever mentions that fact...........